"Chief, I cannot accept such an amazing stone!" (Fia)
I looked at Chief Radek and cried out in a panic.
...Oh, I'm glad he told me. Unless someone had explained to me that in this life, where the Saints are weakened, the value of Sacred Stones is different from her previous life, I would never have realized it on my own.
Thinking that, I quickly refused, and the chief spoke in a panic as well.
"Oh, please don't refuse! We don't usually throw ourselves into battle, so we don't need this stone. The fact that Your Holiness was a knight must be a sign of your will. Please accept it!" (Chief)
"Oh no, I can't accept something so expensive. Well, how about I buy it at a fair price then?" (Fia)
Having said that, I thought, "Wait a second, isn't this incredibly expensive?" So, I decided to have the Knights purchase it instead of me personally.
"Um, well, I mean, what do you think about the Knights buying it? It seems to be a valuable stone, so it would be better for a proper organization like the Knights to own it, rather than me personally. Both the Commander and Captain said it would be useful in battle, so I think they would be able to buy it for the right price. Maybe, surely, even if it was just a little bit." (Fia)
Having said that, I began to worry whether it was okay for the conversation to proceed on its own, so I timidly asked Captain Cyril.
"C-Captain Cyril, is it possible for the Knight Order to purchase the Sacred Stones?" (Fia)
The Captain nodded clearly and with a straight face, leaving no room for error, and I felt a deep sense of relief.
"I-it seems the Knight Order can buy them. Well, how many we can buy will depend on the price. Um, Captain Cyril, what would be a fair price for Sacred Stones?" (Fia)
When I asked, the Captain replied in a quiet voice.
"There is no fair price. To begin with, it is a stone that does not appear on the market, so it is up to you to ask for it. It is a stone that we absolutely must have, so we will buy it at the asking price." (Cyril)
"Huh……" (Fia)
I was left speechless at the unexpected answer.
...Oh, unlimited? Well, the fact that there's no price tag on it is totally unexpected. And is it okay to talk about such things so openly?
Well, the people of Sutherland are honest people, so they probably wouldn't add on to the price.
However, when I looked at the chief, wondering how to put a price on something that had no price, he stared back at me with a troubled expression.
"Lady Fia, the truth is that my wife is very scared. If you paid me, she would definitely not let me into the house. And I'm old, so living on the streets is hard on my body." (Chief)
"What?" (Fia)
...Hmm, I heard a similar story somewhere.
Because of that, I wasn't allowed to pay the baked fruit shop. Are there a lot of people in Sutherland who are terrified of their wives?
Even as I thought this, I didn't know what to do and I found myself staring at Captain Cyril. Then, before I could say anything, Captain Cyril, who had understood the role expected of him, spoke up.
"Fia, I am a party to this matter in every sense of the word. I am not fit to act as arbitrator." (Cyril)
When I heard Captain Cyril's words, my eyes widened in amazement.
Well, as expected of Captain Cyril! I've only just stared at Captain so far. Despite this, Captain is truly outstanding, foreseeing the fact that he will be forced to take on a difficult role and refusing it. He must be the type of person who doesn't let work pile up.
As I thought this, Captain Cyril frowned in confusion.
"Fia, you shouldn't trust me too much in this matter. I have prior interests." (Cyril)
Th-that's right. He's a knight, a Captain, and a Duke. He can't just do what he wants, sorry.
Thinking this, I looked at Captain Curtis, who was extremely excellent, but who was giving me preferential treatment too much and lacking in fairness. Captain Curtis was a resident of a remote island in his previous life. That meant he should be able to understand the feelings of the chief. I was sure he would be able to give me some accurate advice.
Looking at him with expectation, Captain Curtis nodded slightly and began to speak.
"Lady Fi, I think it would be correct to accept the Sacred Stones for free, without any thought of compensation. Three hundred years ago, the Great Saint saved the people of Sutherland without receiving any compensation. She didn't even receive any compensation when she saved the lives of their family." (Curtis)
No, I thought that's a completely different story, so I raised a question.
"Regarding the healing of the illness, the Great Saint did what she could, and we simply helped each other. Everyone tries to save lives that they can, right? Getting rewarded for that is a strange idea." (Fia)
However, Captain Curtis only affirmed it further with a very serious expression on his face.
"It's the same thing. The residents gather deep-sea shells to eat, and even if they occasionally find the Sacred Stone among them, that wasn't the original purpose. In fact, Sacred Stones were also harvested from deep-sea shells 300 years ago. However, there were many Saints at the time, so they didn't find any use for it and so the Sacred Stones were simply thrown back into the sea. It didn't have much value as a gemstone." (Curtis)
Then Captain Curtis glanced at the chief and continued.
"Probably... it's probably the same even now. People from remote islands don't like excessive luxury or conflict, so even if they discovered a stone like this that could be the source of a conflict, they probably just returned it to the sea as if it never existed. That's why I surmise that this stone is not on the market." (Curtis)
"Huh!" (Fia)
I looked at the chief in surprise, and he nodded his head vigorously.
"Captain Curtis is right! Lady Fia, if you refuse to accept, then we will simply return the stone to the sea."
The residents listening nearby also agreed with what Captain Curtis said.
"There was not a single word that Captain Curtis said that didn't match our feelings! He expressed our thoughts with frightening accuracy!"
"Yes, exactly what we want to say is exactly what Captain Curtis just said! Please, please Your Holiness, please accept our feelings!"
"Grrrrr..." (Fia)
I was at a loss and let out a groan.
The feelings of the residents were well understood. However, I thought that the value of the Sacred Stone should also be properly evaluated.
Now I fully understand how important this stone is. In this world, where the power of the Saints has weakened and their numbers are in short supply, there should be knights who can be saved by having this stone, and it is said that this stone will save a knight's life.
But perhaps that is exactly why we should value the skills of the people of Sutherland, who are able to obtain such a precious Sacred Stone...
That's what I thought, but Captain Curtis continued speaking.
"Lady Fi, for the last 300 years, the Great Saint and the people of Sutherland have always helped each other without any thought of reward. That is the way the relationship between the Great Saint and the people of Sutherland should be." (Curtis)
"...That's right." (Fia)
I realized that Captain Curtis was right and turned to the chief as if I had just woken up.
Captain Curtis was right. For example, if I had helped the sick people suffering from yellow spot disease in the cave and the residents had offered me money as a thank you, I would have felt very sad. And yet I was about to do the same thing.
"Chief Radek, I was wrong. As Captain Curtis said, I shouldn't have brought up the topic of money. I apologize to you, Chief, and to everyone else for my rude words, which I got into because of my lack of foresight." (Fia)
I bowed my head deeply and apologized sincerely.
"Oh, no, uh, lift your head!" (Chief)
"Y-Your Holiness! I understand, I understand your feelings!"
Panic-sounding voices were coming from all around, so I looked up and saw everyone looking at me with apologetic expressions.
Seeing their expression, I thought to myself what a kind family they really were, and my expression became troubled.
Then, in a quiet voice, Captain Curtis came to my rescue.
"We understand, Lady Fi. You value this stone and feel bad about getting it for free. However, it is precisely because it is so valuable that the residents want to give it to you unconditionally." (Curtis)
"Yeah" (Fia)
I nodded vigorously at Captain Curtis's words.
Then Captain Curtis laughed happily.
"As expected. I'm glad that my Great Saint is someone who understands everyone's feelings." (Curtis)
...Captain Curtis is really too biased. I thought so, but when I saw Captain Curtis's smile, I realized something simple: I feel happy when people laugh at me.
I turned to face everyone and smiled.
"Thank you very much, everyone. Sacred Stones are extremely useful for knights. I'm really happy to receive them." (Fia)
When the residents saw my smile, one by one they began to smile too.
After all, the people of Sutherland are always the people of Sutherland. Sacred Stones could make me very rich if I did it right, but they're providing it to me for free and with pure kindness. They really are a nice family.
Thinking about this and feeling happy about everyone's feelings, my expression suddenly changed into a big smile. The chief then lowered the wrinkled corners of his eyes in joy.
"Oh, I couldn't be happier to be of service to you, Lady Fia. Of course, I will continue to collect these stones and present them to you as I go." (Chief)
...So that's it. They said they would continue to provide this service in the future.
I felt bad about that, but then I reminded myself that it didn't matter whether it had value or not, it was being offered to me with kindness, so I had to accept it with gratitude.
I shook my head lightly and looked around at the residents again. Everyone's smiles had disappeared, and they were all waiting for my answer with tense expressions on their faces.
Seeing that expression, I thought, "Ahh!" and felt as if I had woken up again.
They were offering me the most valuable Sacred Stones, yet they were worried about whether I would accept it. Everyone sincerely hoped that I would receive the Sacred Stones.
When I realized this, I felt so happy about the feelings of the people of Sutherland offering me the treasure that they had been protecting, and a smile naturally came over my face.
"Thank you everyone. I'm really happy." (Fia)
When the residents were thanked, their smiles looked even happier than mine.